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Do This - Not That, Training

In Do this - not that, training, you alternate the use of your unsettling voice, which your dog is sure to find anxiety provoking, with your gladdening voice which, after conditioning has taken place, your dog will find wonderfully pleasing.

For example, in this - not that, training, if your dog jumps up on a couch where he is forbidden to be, you should tell him no repreatedly, using your best unsettling voice, as you shoo him off. Then, the instant he jumps down, you should immediately switch over and begin speaking in your gladdening voice, as you tell him that he is a good dog.

After classical conditioning has taken place, any time you speak to your dog in your soothing tone of voice, using words that he has been conditioned to find pleasing, it becomes a way for you to convey to him that what he is doing at that instant is good. In other words, it becomes a way for you to say to your dog, Yes, this makes me happy. Do more of this. While your aversive voice becomes a way for you to communicate to him, No, don't do that.

Therefore, by immediately switching over from one voice to the other to reflect an adjustment in your dog's behavior, it becomes a way for you to tell him straight out in a way that he can understand, do this, - not that. Through that process, your dog will eventually come to realize that you are telling him that the one thing is good and the other is bad, while this is right and the other thing is wrong, so this is okay, and that is forbidden.

Thus, over time, you can teach your dog what is and is not acceptable just by instantly changing your tone of voice when the animal suddenly transitions between the wrong thing and the right thing, or vice-versa.

This - not that, training is also called what to do and what not to do training.


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Go to the index of the Glossary of Terms


This page is a component of the Glossary of the Dog Science, CBC
Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network